I'm not, actually, a big fan of sole custody situations. I can certainly understand why she wants that, but the kid needs his dad, however flawed. The dad isn't an abusive drug user or anything, he's just a fool. And you can grow out of that - and even if you don't, a foolish dad is better than none.

I can sympathize about not wanting to be in a closed room with an angry Sarah though!

And, is there anything less grown-up than a large boy saying "I don't feel safe from my mother-in-law" in a courtroom? How exactly would his mother-in-law gain power? Does she have legal rights in Alaska to stand before the bar and argue the case?

How do you intend to support your child? How much support have you paid thus far? What are your career plans? Who is paying for your attorneys and the rest of your entourage? Are all of your income streams legitimate and reported? Where are you living, how are you paying your bills?

NOT true. The child needs a stable home environment and if the father OR mother is unable or unwilling to provide this, then the child's interests come first. The best qualified to providre that home should be awarded custody.

I can't see how it could possibly be Levi, who is an aspiring porn star, about two bricks short of a load mentally it seems and the son of a convicted drug dealer. Nice home environment he came from.

I'm also irritated at the writer of the article in that they keep saying "Palin" without indicating that it is BRISTOL Palin who is bringing these legal proceedings to court. Not SARAH Palin.

Will Sarah get involved? I would imagine so. As the Grandmother she would certainly have a right to be concerned about the fate of her first grandchild. I would be involved if it were my in this case. I would also want to smack my daughter for getting hooked up with this trailer trash family in the first place.

I'm not sure why she's suing for sole custody, except for the fact that the father is an idiot.

Because, I for one, can see this low-class opportunist trying to eke out a living on getting exclusive pics or interviews of his son as he grows up, during days when he has custody.

There was even a part of me that felt sorry for Levi, until he did the whole Playgirl spread and went on the revenge interview tour. Then I realised he's just scum and out for what he can get whilst he still has shallow fame.

I'm so sorry for Tripp. To have such a dad, so immature, so venal, will not be easy.

The same people who say sunshine is the best disinfectant are the ones who cover up for the rot done in the dark of night by the current administration and Congress.

This little creep isn't afraid of Miss Sarah; he's just hoping, if there's enough dirt, she will give him what he wants (and I'll bet it ain't the kid) just so he'll go away. The pseudonyms were to protect the baby, but Dear Old Dad wants to humiliate the kid, its mom and grandmom.

I'm not sure why she's suing for sole custody, except for the fact that the father is an idiot.

Because, I for one, can see this low-class opportunist trying to eke out a living on getting exclusive pics or interviews of his son as he grows up, during days when he has custody.

Ah. That’s an ok reason, I guess. I really would like to hear more about why Bristol felt the need to bring this suit. If she has a good reason, beyond Levi being an idiot, I would support her (but I wouldn’t support her if she is truly trying to keep the child away from his father, or using him as any sort of pawn in their relationship).

We don’t know much about Bristol herself, so I’m not sure what kind of person she is. I know Levi’s an idiot, and willing to sell out his child’s family to make a buck...

We don’t know much about Bristol herself, so I’m not sure what kind of person she is.

She was a star track and field athlete, and basketball player like her mother. By all accounts, she is a very placid girl, maternal to a fault with her siblings, who shifted to her role as mother with ease because of sibling experience.

This is just me, but in reading between the lines, I gather that Bristol is closer to dear old Dad, than her type-A personality, highly ambitious mum. She resembles his taciturn personality, never saying more than is warranted, and seeming to take everything life has to offer with wide-eyed aplomb. Maybe it shows a lack of depth, or of intellect. Or maybe she's just really really normal and down-to-earth, who doesn't churn inside with demons.

When Palin speaks of the middle daughter, who not only resembles her enormously physically, but in the quotes Palin attributes to her in the book, it's with a different level of pride. The pride of recognition of a chip of the old block.

oh c'mon, the palin's just want him out of the way so he doesnt embarrass them any more; and yes, they probably are also retaliating against all his public statements against his mother in law. levi is pretty dense, but that doesnt make him an unfit father. they are trying to take away all his parental rights !

levi is pretty dense, but that doesnt make him an unfit father. they are trying to take away all his parental rights !

You think a (wannabe at this point) porn star is a fit parent?

Selling your body for money is an acceptable occupation and a desirable environment in which to raise a toddler?

In addition the constant bad mouthing of Bristol and her entire family will do some serious harm to the child as the baby gets older. I have seen some horrendous examples of this in a relative's family. The poor child was a ping pong ball in a demented game of getting even between the parents and was raised to hate his father and his grandparents. Sick sick sick.

My guess is that the court will probably settle on supervised visitation for Levi rather than completely cutting him out of his child's life. Not the best thing for a child, but politically correct feel good stuff for the so called adults.

Cool. An open hearing will provide Andrew Sullivan with an opportunity to sit among the courtroom spectators and photographers and dig into the real reason why Bristol looks as though she's never borne a child. Or gave birth to two children. Or whatever.

So dust bunny queen, do you really think the Palin's are not bad mouthing Levi as well ? Or do you only find fault when Levi does it ?

And last i checked, Levi is not a prostitute. If the sort of photos he took you call selling his body, then i guess Victoria Secret models are doing that all the time, so are they unfit parents as well ?

Anyhow, it will be interesting to see what the accusations are from Bristol before jumping to conclusions ....

Expat(ish) said: I'm not, actually, a big fan of sole custody situations. I can certainly understand why she wants that, but the kid needs his dad, however flawed. The dad isn't an abusive drug user or anything, he's just a fool. And you can grow out of that - and even if you don't, a foolish dad is better than none.

I'm going to agree with DBQ here- stability is the most important thing, and Levi, for now at least, don't got it.

It's a bad situation either way. (I'm a firm believer that a woman in Bristol's situation should put the child up for adoption), but recent studies are indicating that the lack of stability that often comes with single parenting is worse than just not having a dad.

Hopefully, Levi will man up as he grows up; I think that he could. He's not the first person to get in over his head as a result of being suddenly thrust into the spotlight. But there are a lot of people who want a lot of badness to befall the Palin family, and Levi has proven himself to be more than willing to play with them if it means he gets the attention he craves. I think it's best that he not be involved with the child right now.

FYI Joint custody is a semantic trick being used to reduce child support because the child is deemed to be half of the time with the father. Meanwhile back in the real world the child has one home where Actual Physical Custody resides and it is in need of $ to pay for the House and utilities there all of the time. These men usually let the husband's parents "Keep" the child on their behalf as a part of the trick. Full legal custody in the mother with liberal visitation schedule (with transportation burden on the visiting father) does work and must be Palin's goal. To terminate Levi's parental rights is not possible under these facts.

How do you intend to support your child? How much support have you paid thus far? What are your career plans? Who is paying for your attorneys and the rest of your entourage? Are all of your income streams legitimate and reported? Where are you living, how are you paying your bills?

I hope these questions are asked of the mother as well.

At least as far as taxes go, I strongly suspect that all of the Palins are up to date and accurate on their filings. Why? The Clinton people are known to have urged the IRS to audit the taxes of political opponents, and the Obama people seem a lot more sophisticated than the Clinton people in this regard. Sure, it isn't supposed to happen, but amazingly, there does seem to be a double standard here.

Besides, as long as Gov. Palin has some thoughts on the White House, she needs to keep her family's taxes ultra-clean.

As far as the rest of it is concerned, I suspect that most of the finances for Britol and her son are being taken care of by her parents, possibly justified by her taking care of her younger siblings. With the book sales, I have no doubts that her parents have the money to do this, and there is nothing wrong with it.

My guess is that the court will probably settle on supervised visitation for Levi rather than completely cutting him out of his child's life. Not the best thing for a child, but politically correct feel good stuff for the so called adults.

This is exactly what happened to a friend's daughter. In spite of several reported domestic violence incidents the family court judge allowed the father custody one weekend a month.

All seemed to be going well enough until their case worker made an unannounced home visit during one of his custodial weekends and discovered a loaded handgun laying on a side table.

In re-reading the quote, it strikes me that he is more concerned about protecting himself then protecting his child from the potential repercussions of a nasty court battle. That is sad.

Levi really needs to grow up. I don't think he should be cut off from his child, but does anyone really think he should have physical custody of his child right now? Visitation, sure. Custody? Probably not.

BJM said: "Agreed, but widows/widowers manage to raise fine children, as do millions of single parents."

I'd say that likely backs up my point more than not. In a broad generalization, I would guess that widowed parents are probably more stable than divorced or never marrieds- no one to fight with, probably enter into fewer relationships with the opposite sex, no legal issues, likely to be more financially stable (due to life insurance and not having to pay for a divorce and second home), no shared custody/dual home issues, and the surviving parent can wax poetically about the dead one, rather than dislike him and force the kid to feel like he has conflicting loyalties. (Again, broad generalizations here- don't tell me that well, things were different for this guy you know.)

Because if mental and moral stability were the issue than it's the Palins who would be SOL.

Johnston was not fully exposed in the Playgirl shots and the kid's grandma, as a former beauty queen, pranced around onstage in her underwear.

But she used that as a start a political career that only amounted to anything due to John McCain's machiavellianism, and now that she can only extend her fifteen minutes by having books ghostwritten and crying to Oprah (options equally available to Johnston) we're supposed to believe that she's the one with a more solid career path.

Neither one is all that bright or capable of all that much. But as the one more prone to corruption and lying in this white trash saga, Palin's in more of a position to be brought down by Johnston. So at least he has a shot at being a good guy.

One of the comments on the article asserted the Levi hadn't paid any child support until October 09.

He had a job as an apprentice on the North Slope, but turns out one had to have a HS diploma or GED for that job. Someone in his family (I may be recalling this incorrectly) -- his father? - blew the whistle on him. No job. That's when he started hitting the celebrity cheese route.

Bristol (again, IIRC) has finished her HS diploma.

Maybe he didn't want to do the basics required of him to stay in the Palin home (finish school, get a job...) Don't know.

But now with it in open court everyone will know even more that we don't need, or want, to know.

From reading the book (I am not one of the Palin "base" who, according to Joy Beher, don't know how to read. [And I'm not sure where I stand yet.]), I would say that "lazy" is not in the Palin-Heath play book.

"Unmotivated" might be an appropriate word for Levi? In the old days having a kid to feed, clothe, and shelter was a good motivator.

This will get sorted out, but since these are kids and there is money involved, not without more hurt and ugliness.

I worried like hell when my daughter started dating. The first few guys were idiots. My daughter could not figure out why I disliked them.

Until about 5 years later, out of college and dating a Good Guy. She says now she can't believe she dated those dopes.

So I feel for Palin. Whatta mess.

And Levi ain't even got his own momma to rely on for advice; she's all sorts of messed up. So he's goin' the revenge and chaos route favored by young males, which I am pretty sure lands you down at the end of lonely street at Heartbreak Hotel.

Or mebbe it's positively 4th street, where for just one time he'll stand inside her shoes and know what a drag it is to see him.

Of course, his desire that Sarah Palin stay out of his business would be a lot more credible/understandable had he not been shooting his mouth off in the press for the last few months.

Yeah. The whole thing is just an excuse to bring Sarah Palin's name into it so he can extend his fifteen minutes a bit. If he plays his cards right he'll get a few magazine interviews out of the custody hearings. Maybe even a guest spot on one of the morning shows.

"When was the last time anyone in Alaska ever agreed with Sarah Palin? Seriously, when?"

When they elected her as governor? And plenty of times after from her polls in the state.

I somehow sense that this isn't accurate. Governor, yes. But my understanding is that the Alaskans had Karzai'ed Palin. Like her friend Hamid, her corruption, except when coddled under the auspices of much more powerful friends, only got her so far.

The subject and predicate here are mixed up from how I ordered them in my quoted statement.

OK, but your earlier negative statements about Palin, in the context of your quoted statement, lead me to assume that you were thinking "more of a position than she is" with the subjects and predicates switched. It really wasn't that much of a stretch, but I'll drop it if I was wrong to assume it.

@yssalovelyredhead, @dbq - I'm going to guess that neither/both of you had an absent dad. Mine was half-absent, and while even as a 10 year old I knew he was a lousy dad, I still needed him once he was gone.

Levi strikes me as PWT, frankly, but he's still the dad, until the mom re-marries a better man who can take over.

Kids need dads - I have three of them upstairs asleep (well, one is reading under the covers and imagines we don't know it) and it's pretty clear to me.

Expat(ish), you're right, I did (and do) have a dad, and he is great, very important to my life. Based on my experiences and my observances of peers who were not so lucky, I agree with you 100% that dads are extremely important. (I blame both Bristol and Levi for making a baby without being ready for one, and then not either following through with the marriage or finding a way to put the child up for adoption so he would have two devoted parents.)

But, the situation being what it is now, I think that tossing the kid between the two, with him so out to get the family, is going to be worse than no dad at all. Don't let that be confused with my saying dads aren't important; they are, it's just that there are some things worse than not having one, and I think that this falls into that catagory.

Pogo said: "I worried like hell when my daughter started dating. The first few guys were idiots. My daughter could not figure out why I disliked them."

As a former teenaged girl who was supposed to be smarter than that, I completely see where you are coming from. Fortunately (and, I'm sure in large part thanks to good grounding from my parents), I never risked reproduction with them.

Even now, as I approach 30 and my ninth year of marriage, I shudder to think about if I had taken that risk and ended up tied for life to one of those fools. - Lyssa